Look for Mukilteo family on ‘Family Feud’

MUKILTEO — The show is called “Family Feud,” but from what the Seung family has to say about their recent experience on the show, it was nothing but fun.

Christopher and Shirley Seung, both 63, of Mukilteo, and their three grown children made it onto the show and taped their appearance in May.

It’s scheduled to air at 9 a.m. Monday on Channel 11. The Seungs are sworn to secrecy about the outcome until afterward.

“They treated us so well,” said Christopher Seung, who works in the mortgage industry.

The Seungs auditioned for the show at the Puyallup Mall last winter, Shirley Seung said. She said her sister heard about the auditions and let her know.

“We actually played the game right in the middle of the mall, in front of shoppers and everything,” she said.

The game involves two competing families trying to match responses to surveys on questions such as, “What would you want to handle with care?” and, “What would you not like to ride in after surgery?”

Shirley Seung was actually on the show once before, with her father and sisters, in 1977 with original host Richard Dawson, she said. They won parting gifts.

The rules only say that contestants can’t have been on the show in the previous three to five years, according to Christopher Seung.

Several families played the game that day in the mall, Shirley Seung said. They were instructed to speak up and “celebrate, give each other high fives, be animated.”

“They were looking for fun people, who enjoyed the game whether they won or lost,” Christopher Seung said.

The Seungs found out about a month later they were among the finalists and were later selected.

All five family members — Christopher and Shirley, along with their daughters Reyna Hwang, 35, Crystal Seung, 32, and son Brian, 30 — were flown, all expenses paid, to Atlanta for the taping.

They were treated to a nice hotel and were driven around in a limousine.

“We always like to know that the families on the show have a memorable experience that they cherish forever,” said Courtney Smith, a publicist for “Family Feud.”

The show has had several incarnations and hosts over the years since its inception in 1976. It currently stars actor and comedian Steve Harvey.

“He was just the most gracious host,” Christopher Seung said. Harvey stayed on stage during breaks and spoke with contestants and members of the audience, Seung said.

“He made each member of my family feel special. He’s just a great guy, a real human being.”

The show was shot in a small theater in front of about 150 to 200 people, Seung estimated. Several shows were recorded in one day.

He said the family was prepared because they had been watching the show even before the audition.

“We’d been fans of the show because my wife had been on years and years ago,” Seung said.

At the beginning of the taping this time around, when Harvey was asking contestants about themselves, Christopher Seung was able to share that he was a student of famed martial arts movie star Bruce Lee in Seattle in the early 1960s.

Lee, a student at the University of Washington, taught martial arts classes on the side. Seung was 12 years old and attended Lee’s classes for 3½ years. Lee died suddenly in 1973 at age 32.

Seung still practices the moves, he said.

“I have my own routine that Bruce Lee taught me,” he said.

Regarding the show, “It was just a fun experience and they made it fun. I would say they were a class act,” he said.